Four more years: Bears sign Hester

Matt Trowbridge

Monday

Jul 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMJul 28, 2008 at 5:48 AM

Forget other teams’ free agents. The best way to build an NFL champion, Jerry Angelo says, is to develop your own stars. And then keep them. “I’ve said that from the day I got here,” Angelo said Sunday after signing Devin Hester to a four-year contract extension. “Talk is cheap. We put teeth into it.”

Forget other teams’ free agents. The best way to build an NFL champion, Jerry Angelo says, is to develop your own stars. And then keep them.

“I’ve said that from the day I got here,” Angelo said Sunday after signing Devin Hester to a four-year contract extension. “Talk is cheap. We put teeth into it.”

Hester was the final piece in an 18-month signing flurry, where the Bears re-signed 14 of their best players, including eight Pro Bowlers.

This offseason alone, the Bears signed nine players to contract extensions before they hit the free-agent market. Seven of those were long-term deals. A 10th Bear, linebacker Lance Briggs, was re-signed as a free agent.

The Bears also re-signed four players to extensions before last season: Olin Kreutz, Nathan Vasher, Charles Tillman and Hunter Hillenmeyer.

Hester had two years and $975,000 remaining on his original four-year rookie contract. He will now make at least $30 million over six years, with $15 million guaranteed, according to ESPN.com. If he reaches incentives, he would earn a $10 million roster bonus his final year, giving him $40 million for six years.

The Bears are betting on him, too. No kick returner has ever made more than $2 million a year. “We blew that out of the water,” Angelo said. Hester, whom the Bears are trying to turn into a full-time receiver, is now getting paid just like last year’s top free-agent receiver. The Vikings gave Bernard Berrian $42 million for six years, with $16 million guaranteed.

“The Bears have a lot of faith in me,” said Hester, who returned 12 punts, kickoffs and missed field goals for touchdowns the last two years but caught only 20 passes for 299 yards. “I can do a lot of things on the offensive side, so they rewarded me.”

Hester said he will use some of his money to take care of his mom.

“There’s so much relief. I can just come out and play ball now,” he said after practicing in pads for the first time in Chicago’s fifth day of training camp. “I don’t have to worry about any contract, just do my thing. This is big security. I can live without any stress now.”

Angelo stressed Hester will honor his original contract.

“We never rip up a player’s contract. We extended him four more years, but we kept the two years he had remaining,” Angelo said.

“We’ve been waiting for this,” offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. “We need to get him out there and go.”

Hester, who missed contact drills the previous two days with a reported tight hamstring, said he felt “100 percent.” And Angelo is finally 100 percent done with his re-signing spree, keeping a team intact that won division titles in 2005 and 2006 and that he thinks can win for years to come.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as busy in the offseason, and I don’t think I ever will be again,” Angelo said. “We did a lot, and hopefully we accomplished a lot. We kept a good foundation in place for a good while. That was our goal.”